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I have always felt that the true history for pricing a poster is
NOT price history at all. It is a combination of supply and demand and I
am speaking of how many are actually out there and how many people want the
poster. If there are only a few known posters avaliable of a title that
everyone wants, then it is quite obvious where the price will go. If there
are more copies available than collectors who want the title, then you most
likely will not be able to sell it. (For example "The Return of Mr. Moto with
Henry Silva which is around 40 years old and worthless.)
Let's take a specialty area such as collectors of Sherlock
Holmes. The one sheets do not surface too often so if you have 5
collectors waiting for one to come on the market and none have surfaced for 5
years then your "price guide" is worthless. On the other hand, the James
Bond posters come on the market all the time which means a price guide may be used for reference but only because the supply is very high. A"price guide" is Ok if there are many that come on the market
often and there are many collectors. For the posters that are truly rare,
the price guide is worthless. For example, Mr. Warren places an extremely
low price on Warner Oland one sheet Charlie Chan posters. Please tell me
when one surfaces and I will pay you far more than his "price guide" price even
if I already own the poster because the past history means nothing
here.
The same holds true for the sci-fi and horror posters. They
are constantly bringing new highs monthly and I believe the demand will
continue.
Of course, a "price guide" can be used as a reference but only
within the true context of its meaning and never as the main means to an
end.
Claude Litton
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